Last Official Target Cruise of the Year

This was it! The last Target Cruise for the 2017 season. Our host Brian Shattuck, thanked us all for a great season and assured us he would be playing music till 8:00 PM. And that he did.

The Fall Season is tough for me with Kids in school activities. Someday if this operation gets bigger, maybe I can somehow rope in some other correspondents. But the planets aligned and schedules permitted me to show up for my all-time favorite local show. As Brian says all the time: “You never know what kind of Car (or Motorcycle) will show up!” and tonight was no different

Good times with Good People.

A lot of the “regulars” were in attendance but as usual with Target Cruise, quite a few “irregulars” showed up as well… If this season has taught me anything it has taught me that my conviction that I have written about before: everyone who has a car that they bring to any type of car show has is a singular love that all of us have no matter what type of car we bring. From Classic to Hot-Rods, to Corvettes, Rat-Rods, 4×4 Trucks, British Motors, Exotics, New and old Mustangs and Mopars, and especially JDM and Tuner-Imports.

If you are of the conviction that late model cars and the JDM-Tuner guys have no place at a cruise and/or car-show? You are doing yourself a disservice and missing out on some wonderful people. I ran into my new Car Show friends Jay and Larana Stirling, who brought their stunning MK I White Rabbit. Let me tell you this thing draws attention. Every single time I go to a show that this thing is parked at – I’m drawn right up to it for it’s clean attention to detail that was done at DTM-AUTOWERKS in my hometown of Milford NH. Jay and I swapped stories and had a good few laughs and If I didn’t have to keep moving to take pictures of the rest of the show, we probably would have talked till midnight, Or until Laurena dragged him kicking and screaming away.

I walked around and snapped a few photos. As it late in the year I was racing against the daylight. I got some great shots of some of the exotics in attendance. Something about a Porsche 928 that just makes me stare it. And then there is the Red 1959 Cadilac that is a regular and I never ever get tired of snapping a picture of it and as usual, we have the Find Darla picture as well.

A Super Supra.

As I’m not a professional at this I neglected to bring my notebook to write down names. But I met a guy who had a Toyota Supra that he had not even had time to wash. I snapped a picture of it anyway because at first I just couldn’t figure out why, but I was just drawn to it. The owner told me that he almost didn’t make it because he had issues with his thermostat but got it done just in time to shut the hood and cruise down.

When I looked into the hood of this work in progress I was treated with a rare view of motor imported from Japan. A twin turbo JZ motor. These motors were and still are the most sought after motors of the JDM-Tuner groups. After speaking with the owner I realized that: “He Gets it.” He knows his car isn’t a show winner. But he knows that is OK. Because he loves playing with his car and tweaking it and making it better. He learned a ton with this motor-swap and the glint in his eye was infectious. If you see this Supra be sure to introduce your self. He has knowledge of the JDM world and the experience he is gaining from this project could be invaluable for your own future project

I cannot wait to see this car next year. What will we see? What might he have worked on? Then maybe pick his brains for my winter car I use for when the Vette goes into winter slumber mode.

Target Cruise never disappoints.

I’ll try to hit some of these other October shows if I can at other locations. It’s a tough schedule with all of the activities I have with the Kids. I love it when I meet people who love cars as much if not sometimes even more than I do. But mark my words: The 2018 season for Target Cruise “Will Be Awesome!” and I cannot wait. Be sure to check out and follow the facebook fan page for the Target Cruise by Clicking Here. Brian usually announces when the season will start in April for a May Start depending on the weather.

Joel Chappell

Joel Chappell or MrJoelieC (Pronounced: Mister-Joe-Lee-See) is an amateur web designer. He uses commercial off the shelf, and Free GNU General Public license, software to make his websites. Using these technologies with his limited grasp of HTML, PHP, and even more amateur use of Paintshop Pro Joel he has created a few websites, and because of his passion for cars and car shows he created this one – the one you are on now.